Archive for May 2008
Supreme injustice
In 2003 the governing Liberal Party of Canada foisted a supreme injustice upon this country with the Youth Criminal Justice Act or YCJA. Many police officers in Canada think YCJA stands for You Can’t Jail Adolescents, so weak was the legislation.
But count on the Supreme Court of Canada to take an already weak piece of legislation and make it weaker still. And in the case of Regina vs D.B. 2008 25 they did not disappoint.
Back when I was a young police officer we had the Juvenile Delinquents Act as our governing authority when dealing with the teenaged scumbags – oh sorry, poor little devils who weren’t breast fed and or their mommies drank and their daddies deserted them and boo hoo hoo – who seem to think that the rule of law doesn’t apply to them unless and until they get caught. Then they were happy to piss and moan about how hard done by they are and how it isn’t their fault.
Back then, we would complain about how the JDA was so lenient on juvies and how they couldn’t give a fig because nothing would happen to them. I remember a cop who used to mail a birthday card to ‘frequent flyers’ wishing them a Happy Birthday when they turned eighteen. Inside was a photo of a pair of handcuffs and a bullet. The implication was obvious; now that you are an adult, I’m coming to get you.
The JDA was replaced with another weak-kneed statute called the Young Offenders Act (YOA) which was later replaced with the YCJA. All of this nonsense is created by the hand-wringers who simply cannot or will not understand that some of these criminal thugs are incorigible and irreparable as human beings.
The Supremes said that we can’t impose statutory reverse onus positions on the little darlings. It’s unfair to treat these charming young folks as adults unless Crown can absolutely prove that the crimes committed, be it murder most horrible as occurred in case of Rena Virk or the teens involved in the senseless and most brutal killing of 13 year old Nina Courtepatte.
Much has been written about the killing of Nina Courtepatte. But what has not been said is that for several hours she was raped and tortured and for a long period of time she was badly injured and knew she was going to die. And she pleaded for her killers to finish her off. And they wouldn’t. They did it slow and very painfully.
You simply cannot view the circumstances of a file like that and not come to the conclusion that those involved are evil. And evil should never see the light of day ever again.
But that will not be the case for the killers of Nina Courtepatte. The adults, such as they were, will some day be eligible for parole. The juveniles will be free in far too short a period of time. And Nina, unfortunately, will be forgotten.
And the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the legislation that protected the people instrumental in the murder of little Nina Courtepatte are being unfairly done by politicians who haven’t a clue about the real problems in this country.
If the Supreme Court of Canada had any conscience or morals, they would be ashamed of themselves for not doing the right thing.
And if my Aunt had balls she would be my Uncle.
Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com
Failed again . . .
A week ago, a story appeared in The Province about a rather innocuous sign of the times – thefts of bags from unsuspecting visitors at Vancouver International Airport.
But, what was glossed over was the identification of an arrested suspect in the spate of thefts. Ramon Rafael Montesinos Chavoro, 36, was arrested, charged with Theft over $5000 – an indictable offence in Canada – and released on $5,000 bail. And that’s not posted bail as in real dollars. No, indeed, that means “promised” dollars. Or, in more simple terms, nothing.
But, hang on a second, Chavoro is a Mexican national. Is he in Canada legally? And even if he is, why would we allow a foreign national to come here, allegedly commit a series of crimes and allow him to be freed on minor bail conditions?
Does he have a previous criminal history in Canada? What about in his home country?
This is ridiculous at any level. Made especially moreso since we learned this week, courtesy of the federal Auditor General Shelia Fraser, that the Canadian Border Services Agency had lost track of 41,000 illegal immigrants, most of whom are failed refugee claimants.
It seems that in this country it matters not whether you are a failed refugee claimant or a serial criminal, what passes for a justice system in Canada will let you go with little or no restrictions on your freedoms.
I must confess I am at a loss here to try and understand whatever logic exists to pretend that such a system is somehow tolerable or that this system “works” by any definition.
Who are these 41,000 failed refugee claimants? I don’t know and the government won’t tell us. We don’t know if they are gypsy thieves, Russian strippers or al Qaeda terrorist. And the sad part is that the government hasn’t a clue either to go along with where they might be.
But they do know who Chavoro is and what he’s all about. And yet the system still let him go instead of holding him in custody pending trial. And if, as is most likely, he is found guilty he should be deported after serving whatever sentence the court might impose. Which, of course would be nothing more than time served. But, at least the government could have packed him aboard a plane and sent him back to his homeland and in doing so, lived up to their responsibility to protect the public.
But sadly, that is not what happened in this case. Or in the thousands and thousands of others like this.
Leo Knight
Immigration decision a mystery
It’s difficult to try and be respectful of the Canadian justice system when you get decisions such as the one rendered by Immigration adjudicator Daphne Shaw Dyck in the case of Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros, an admitted killer and member of the notoriously violent Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha or more commonly known as MS 13.
But then, I have come to expect so very little of a system designed to be overseen by people with little or no training for the role they are performing. For most, it seems the only qualification is to have connections to whatever political party is in power and makes the appointments.
Now, I don’t know the adjudicator with the double-barrelled family name. And, it may well be that from time to time she gets it right. But then, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
What I can and will say is that she is so wrong in this case that one has to question her competence to sit in judgement of immigration claims. When a waste of oxygen like this has already admitted to being a member of MS 13 and a participant in gangland murders, I sincerely question her ability to process information presented.
How she came to the conclusion that this lothesome individial was likely not a gang banger because, well, I have no idea. She had no evidence before her that said this goof was anything but what he said he was.
The real problem here is not that this adjudicator went off the reservation in this case, but rather that there are so many of these ‘appointees’ in similar positions of power to put at risk the rest of society in Canada. And there is precious little we can do about it.
It seems that Pierre Trudeau’s so called “Just Society” is really anything but.
Leo Knight
Crime & Punishment 